The welfare state is unsustainable economically, socially and morally.

Friday, October 14, 2016

The brilliant van Beynen does it again

From Stuff:

OPINION: Guess what? Fixing child poverty in New Zealand is not that hard.

Let's call it the John Minto solution. First, every family with less than a certain income will be brought up to a minimum stipend based on what is required for the family to live comfortably in their location.

If substantiated child abuse is a marker for 'bad parenting' the correlation between that and benefit dependency (usually single parent) is considerably stronger than the correlation between that and poverty.

The point Collins was making is that poverty shouldn't be used as an excuse for bad parenting when the majority of income 'poor' parents do not abuse their children.

If society keeps repeating the message that poverty is to blame for bad parenting then we will never persuade bad parents to take responsibility for their behaviour.

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About Me

Lindsay Mitchell has been researching and commenting on welfare since 2001. Many of her articles have been published in mainstream media and she has appeared on radio,tv and before select committees discussing issues relating to welfare. Lindsay is also an artist who works under commission and exhibits at Wellington, New Zealand, galleries.